I have answered many calls and made several site visits in the past few weeks dealing with weed control in home lawns.

Summer-annual and perennial weeds are popping up everywhere. The warm temperatures have allowed these weeds to flourish in many lawns. In every conversation I have had dealing with this issue there is one question I get. How much do I apply?

Halloween is just three months away and that means if you’re going to grow your own pumpkin for carving, you’d better get those seeds into the ground soon.

According to the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, pumpkin seeds need to be in the ground between the middle of May and the end of July.

“Direct sow your seeds about 1 inch deep,” notes an article on the Extension Service Web site. “Some plants have more vines than others, so you probably want to plan for space. Some growers use a trellis system for the mini or smaller pumpkins.”

When someone asks me what I “do,” the answer, “I’m a writer,” draws one of two responses.

About half of the people who ask say “Oh.” For them, the conversation has ended because what they heard me say is “Daytime television isn’t dead. Montel Williams and Jerry Springer are the best!” These are the folks who will at some point in the future turn to me and say, “You don’t do anything all day. Why don’t you volunteer for this incredibly time-consuming task that us productive folks don’t want to do?”